Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MCD, BKC, F, GOOG, OZM, WMT

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Google (GOOG), Wal-Mart (WMT), Ford Motor (F), McDonald's (MCD), Alcoa Inc (AA), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Analyst initiations, Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX)

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman added McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) to its Conviction Buy List as they believe the company will beat their earnings expectations over the next couple quarters. Note that Burger King (NYSE:BKC) was removed from the list.
  


• Baird upgraded Woodward Govenor (NASDAQ:WGOV) to Outperform from Neutral citing increased confident in its outlook following the better-than-expected Q1 report.
  


• Citigroup upgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) to Hold from Sell and removed shares from their Top Picks Live List as a Sell as they believe current expectations are very low following the recent weakness. Citigroup lowered their target price to $13 from $18.


• Ford (NYSE:F) and Lear (NYSE:LEA) were upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
  


• KT Corp (NYSE:KTC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
  


• Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Collins Stewart and to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

• Goldman removed Burger King (NYSE:BKC) from its Conviction Buy List citing recent share strength. Note that McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) was added to the list.
  


• Keefe Bruyette downgraded shares of Och-Ziff Capital (NYSE:OZM) to Market Perform from Outperform to reflect the company's near-term headwinds. The firm lowered their target to $5 from $6.50.
  


• Morgan Stanley downgraded Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), Alcoa (NYSE:AA), and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) to Equal Weight from Overweight as they believe industrial metals will be depressed through next year.


• Air France (Other OTC:AFLYY) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
  


• Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) was lowered to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  


• Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR) was cut at Argus to Hold from Buy.

• Merriman initiated Suntech (NYSE:STP) with a Sell rating. The firm is concerned by the company's debt load and narrowing maturity and thinks further cost reduction in China could be a challenge. The firm believes a fair price target range is $3.50-$4.50 per share.
  


• JMP Securities views Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) as a long-term "must buy" given its dominant market position, strong balance sheet, and low valuation. Shares were initiated with an Outperform rating and $400 target.
  


• Auriga started Micron (NYSE:MU) with a Buy rating and $5 target. The firm expects DRAM oversupply to ease in the second half of 2009 and believes Micron will not burn significant cash this year.


• Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) was initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating and $41 target.
  


• Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) was initiated with a Buy rating and $80 target at Wunderlich.
  


• Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) was started with a Buy rating and $16 target at Citigroup.

 

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